The study stems from a growing conviction among governments and development specialists that greater attention should be paid to environmental quality in the pursuit of economic and social development objectives; that this requires, among other things, innovative approaches to natural resources management. In order to manage natural resources innovatively and water happens to be our most precious natural resource, it is necessary to use monitoring techniques which are according with and complement the modern approaches to resource management. Among them, remote sensing and data transmission systems together with computerized data management, are tools which most adequately serve this purpose and allow the resource specialist to have a timely and ample spectrum of data coverage of the areas of interest. Telemetry Network Planning Planning of a telemetric system is a delicate aspect of the whole process of adopting an automatic data collection network. It does not only involve those aspects related to the location of new stations, the number of parameters and measuring points required to obtain the desired results, the type of stations and transmission method to be used; but it must involve also, a comprehensive revision of the institutional organization and how the new technology can be merged into the mainstream of activities in a smooth and proper manner. This evaluation should consider the following points: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Human resources available for the project Data processing and communication facilities Workshop facilities Operation Schedules Analysis of end users' requirements Spare parts
The CMI/COHI is presently involved with the OAS in a project: “Caribbean: Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change (CPACC).” Telemetering equipment will be established throughout the Caribbean area mainly to monitor sea level rise. A central data base will be set up at the CMI/COHI and all data will be transmitted against satellite to this central data base. This data base will not be restricted to the CPACC project but can be used by other data collection agencies to have their stored in a central location. Hydrological services around the region can make use of this facility. Problems in Data Collection, Analysis and Dissemination Funding Cuts As pointed out before, once a network of stations has been set up, it should be maintained and kept in operation for a minimum of twenty-five years, so that the full benefits of the use of the data may be realized. However, twenty-five years is a long time and economic, political and social conditions can change drastically during this time. Such changes usually can propel changes in the priorities set for the country, which means that there can be funding cuts for ongoing projects. Unfortunately, programmes for data collection usually suffer heavily whenever there are cuts in funding. The results of such cuts are usually the reduction of the network of stations and lack of maintenance of stations that are kept in operation. Reduction of the network leads to a loss of data, hence no analysis available for projects requiring such data. The result is either under — or over— design of projects which eventually leads to economic losses.
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